The DAC Scam - Almost everyone believes the hype

@niodari

I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said.

How two people perceive the actual differences between two DACs will definitely be impacted not only by their respective priorities in terms of sonic factors but also by their hearing. And of course, this is not even considering differences in ancillary gear and listening spaces!

As it happened, the particular group of DACs I auditioned in the past spanned a very wide spectrum, in terms of musical vs. analytical/warm vs. bright. If I’d chosen a different group of DACs, the differences might’ve been far less evident and I might well have determined that one DAC pretty much sounds like another.

First, AP Mastering posted another YouTube regarding the fact that the viewers who took his test could not tell the difference between the different portions he was playing. He had over 1,000 responses and his results are extremely statistically significant. That doesn’t mean his test proved what he set out to test, only that viewers who tried to determine how many cuts were in his loopback were unable to do so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbcEgxm6RTU

Second, my own opinion is that there are small differences between DACs that may show up on a particular system set up in a particular way. I think the biggest differences are the different types of conversion be it what kind of chip vs r2r vs fpga. I heard a friend playing a very cheap DAC which sounded alright but adding a more expensive (not that much more) DAC opened up the soundstage significantly.

I A/B’d a T+A Dac vs an ifi iDSD pro and couldn’t really tell the difference. This was not a blind test either. I think AP Mastering has it correct that most people could not tell the difference between dacs if they are volume matched and in a blind test if the dacs use the same conversion method.

I've come to the conclusion whomever believes most things ASR says doesn't have a very resolving system.  Midfi at best.  It's not the dac chip mainly it's the overall implementation. I've owned several dacs over the years and you get what you pay for typically. 

I've come to the conclusion whomever believes most things ASR says doesn't have a very resolving system.

I've come to the conclusion whomever believes most things ASR says doesn't have ears.

I've come to the conclusion whomever believes most things ASR says doesn't have a very resolving system. Midfi at best. It's not the dac chip mainly it's the overall implementation. I've owned several dacs over the years and you get what you pay for typicallyrights.

You have all rights to justify your dac investments with any arguments that you like. At the same time, try to avoid public statements on how good or bad are equipment and ears of others.